I found the best way, with a view to maybe getting more sun's in the future that are this old (i have an ultra 10), is to get a standard kvm switch and a cable that turns the ps/2 keyboard and mouse (coming out of the switch) into the 8 pin din that the sun takes. i got my stuff (both made by adder) from www.kvmchoice.co.uk. if you're not in the uk then that probably won't help but you may be able to see the stuff you need.

no, its not (and god did i find out when i set my kbmap to us ). the adaptor makes the changes to the codes rather than being a straight physical adaptor so, for example, hotkeys are automatically setup that the adaptor converts into sun kb codes for things like 'cut', 'paste' and 'power'.

i just thought this was an easier solution, i.e. making the switch (no pun intended) now since the kboards aren't being produced anymore (at least according to sun uk).

As far as I know, without peripherals it should still boot up using the serial port as the console. You just won't see anything without a null modem cable attached. I guess that's how ppl run headless.